Association for Foreign Investments – AFI has long been drawing attention to the positive effects of approving the current draft building law. “We are fully aware of the fact that the draft of the new Building Act is not entirely perfect, however, the currently approved draft of the Building Act will make it possible to significantly speed up and streamline construction in the Czech Republic. The approval of the law will lead to the release of the Czech economy, the possibility of “investing” in the economic crisis and modernization of construction in the Czech Republic and the Czech Republic itself, “says Kamil Blažek, chairman of the Association for Foreign Investment – AFI.
The reasons for the “approval” of the building law AFI summarized in several points:
• Acceleration, simplification and predictability of permitting processes – AFI, based on its analyzes and experience, has long criticized the completely insufficient state of permitting processes in the Czech Republic, which is reflected in their complexity, length and unpredictability. For this reason, the Czech Republic lags far behind not only the most developed countries, but also its neighbors in Central Europe.
• Transparent permitting process – In addition to the length of permitting procedures, AFI also criticizes the complexity and difficulty of obtaining opinions from the authorities concerned (especially their incoordination, often extreme demands on project documentation detail or frequent inconsistencies).
• Simplification of project documentation – AFI has also long called for a real modernization of building law, which should consist in simplifying and shortening permitting processes, simplifying project documentation requirements with more responsibility for the builder and strengthening the building authority’s enforcement powers, reducing obstruction .
• Digitization of construction processes and BIM methodology – AFI also supports consistent digitization of permitting processes so that digitization becomes common practice, to enable, among other things, the advent of BIM methodology, for which standards need to be completed, authorities prepare to work with this data and motivate builders work in BIM.
• Higher competitiveness of the Czech Republic and attracting high-tech investments – AFI as an organization that has long been dealing with foreign investment and the needs of foreign investors, points out that the insufficient state of permitting processes is becoming a major obstacle to the Czech Republic’s competitiveness, especially in investment , including high-tech investments with high added value.
• Acceleration of backbone infrastructure construction – AFI is very sensitive to the fact that the unhappy state of permitting processes negatively affects new investments and is beginning to have an impact on the overall operation of the economy due to the absence or delay of backbone infrastructure construction or key projects.
• Overcoming the economic consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic – AFI assumes that the new Building Code will also be an effective tool for overcoming the economic consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic.
• Implementation of measures in connection with the Green Deal – rapid implementation of all environmental and other measures in connection with the Green Agreement.
